Bottle capping machine



July 5, 1938- A. J. JoNssoN l 2,122,864

BOTTLE CAPE'ING MACHINE Filed Oct. 9, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet l .if i

f 4c Z9 4Q Anders UBSB jon Sscn July 5, 1938.

A. J. JONSSON BOTTLE CAPPING MACHINE Filed Oct. 9, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Anders Ioseg onssmf,

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Patented July 5, 1938 BOTTLE CAPPING MACHINE Anders Josef Jonsson, Linkoping, Sweden Application October 9, 1935, Serial No. 44,157 In Sweden October 17, 1934 9 Claims.

The present invention has` for its object to provide a bottle capping. machine of small dimensions and of a simple but effective construction. It is substantially intended to be served or operated by hand and it` is constructed either for mechanical or for human driving power. The former construction may also be automatized to a certain extent.

As usual the machine is provided with a capping head and a bottle supporting plate or the like movable towards and away from the said head. By means of the said plate the top of the bottle is introduced into the head` in which the cap isY pressed around the top of the bottle, the said capping or closing action of the head being obtained in a known manner by pressure applied to the head.

One object of the invention is to provide an adjustable motion transmission device from the capping head to the bottle supporting plate, and vice versa, by means of which the effect of the capping operation may be independent of the distance between the capping head and the supportingl plate, i. e. independent of the heights of the bottles.

Another object is to connect the said motion transmission device to an operating member in such a way that the plate may be raised and the capping pressure applied to the cap and top of the bottle by actuating, said operating member alone.

A further obj ect` is to arrange the machine parts in such a way that the capping pressure is applied to the bottles in a sensible manner inorder to eliminate breakage of the bottles.

Still further objects will be described in the following specication.

Two embodiments. of .the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Figure .1 shows one of them,.partly in section, and viewed from one side, and

Figure 2 shows the other, also in side view.

Referring to both figures numeral 5 indicates the frame of the machine, I the capping head, 2 a block, in` which the head is disposed, 3 is the bottle supporting plate and 4 indicates a pressing member embodied as a lever mounted on the block and serving to apply the necessary closing pressure to the head. The lever consists, for example, 0f two parallel parts, which are rigidly united with each other and located on either side of an ear 4a of the block, the said ear serving as a bearing for the pivot 4c of the lever. The capping head is of the known construction in which the cap is applied to the top of the bottle by means of an elastic ring 20, usually made of iva rubber and in the capping moment compressed by a piston-like member 2I, which is pressed against the ring by the lever 4 via a roller ib` mounted between the two parts of the lever.

Referring especially to the embodiment shown "ti in Figure 1 numeral 6 indicates the driving shaft,

'I the belt pulley of the shaft, 8, 9 a toothed gear for transmitting a low speed to a cam disk shaft IIJ, and Illa indicates a coupling device by means p of which the wheel 9 may be coupled with the 10 shaft I0. In this machine the coupling is as usual operated by means of a treadle Ic, connected with the coupling by a bar Ib, and is retained in operative position as long as the treadle is depressed. The bottle supporting plate is provided I5 with a stem I3 movable up and down in a vertical sleeve I4, which in its turn is movable in the same direction in a guiding part of the table I5. In the lower end of the sleeve is secured a bearing 4 I6 for a roller I1 contacting the cam disk I8. The 20 said disk, being secured to the shaft I0, serves to lift the supporting plate to the height required for introducing the top of the bottle into the head. A buffer spring Ma, within the sleeve I4 imparts a certain elasticity to the supporting plate and determines the pressure acting upon the bot-- tle from below, and at the same time it compensates small variations in the heights of the bottles.

For considerable variations in the heights of the bottles the block 2 and therewith also the head I may be set to various heights. Thus a guide 35 for the block is embodied as a rack and the block is provided with a pinion 36 meshing with the rack so that the block may be raised and lowered by turning a handwheel 3l Xed to the pinion. For fixing the block after each adjustment the block is formed to a clamping sleeve which surrounds the frame column 32 and is to be fastened to the same by means of a screw 34 actuated manually by a key or lever 33. 'Ihe lever 4 receives its working motion, i. e. its motion downwards, from the shaft I0, for example by means of a pam disk 25 via a drawbar 2E. The lower end of the bar has a stirrup or the like 21 provided with a roller 28 contacting the cam disk. The upward motion of the bar is eiected by a spring 26a. The bar is jointed to the lever by means of a die 29, turnably secured to the lever and loosely disposed on the drawbar. Above the die there is a buffer spring 3B, a nut 3in1 and a handwheel 3l screwed on to the threaded draw bar. Thus the driving transmission from. the

lcapping head to the supporting plate may be adjusted with respect to the distance between the last mentioned parts and each desired fine adjustment of the pressure acting upon the cap and on the top of the bottle is obtained. The spring 3l) is of importance for obtaining a smooth or sensible closing pressure, which is required especially when capping bottles of relatively large diameters in order to prevent the biting off of the top of the bottle at its mouth.

The machine works in the following manner:

A bottle is placed on the plate 3 in the position determined by a centering member 38 and at the same time the treadle is depressed, the cam disk I8 lifts the plate 3 so that the top of the bottle is pushed into the elastic ring with the cap loosely applied on the top either prior to or after the introducing of the top into the capping head. In the meantime the cam disk 25 has been turned so far that the lever 4 begins to act on the member 2|, the ring 25 is compressed, the capping is accomplished and the parts then reassume their initial positions. Another bottle is placed on the plate 3 without interruption of the rotation of the shaft l0, and the operation is repeated.

Instead of a one-armed lever fl, shown in Figure l, a two armed lever may be used and the draw bar 26 may be replaced by a push rod, the spring 26a, and the roller 28 being adapted to act in the opposite direction to that intended in Figure 1. If desired, the two cam disks i8 and 25 may each be replaced by a crank and the draw bar 2t by a chain, wire or the like, in which case, however, the spring when used for returning the transmission parts displaced during the operation must be arranged in another Way than the spring 26a.

As will be easily understood the embodiment described provides good possibilities as regards the adjustment according to the heights of the bottles and as regards the fine adjustment of the `capping pressure, besides which said pressure may be regulated to one and the same strength in all positions of the head and by a suitably dimensioned lever 4 becomes sufcient without a great load on the driving shaft.

To take further precautions against the risk of too hard a pressure during the capping operation the belt pulley l is united with the shaft 6 by means of a friction clutch. shown the said clutch consists of three disks 33, 4| and 42, of which 43 and 42 are united with the belt pulley by means of bolts, one of which, 43, is shown in Figure l. The two disks 4t, 42 are pressed against the third disk 4|, which is secured to the shaft 6 by means of springs, one of which is found in Figure l and indicated by the numeral 44. Each of these springs is guided by a bolt 44a secured in the disk 4i? and set by means of nuts 45. At a certain resistance against the rotation of the shaft the disk 4l begins to slide between the two other disks i9 and 42.

The embodiment shown in Figure 2 is considerably simplied and it is arranged to be served and operated by hand. Also here the block 2 may be adjusted in vertical direction on the frame 5. The lever 4 is depressed by means 'of a handle 46 via two cam disks 4l by moving the handle in the direction of the arrow 55. lIhe cam disks are located between two ears 43 forming bearings for the cam shaft 49. For raising the supporting plate 3 the tube I4 by means of the draw bar 59 is united with one end of a two-armed lever 5i, mounted on a pin 52 in a projection of the block 2 between the two parallel parts of the leverV d. For the purpose of lifting the plate 3 the other end of the lever is adapted to be actuated by the In the embodiment handle via a cam member, for example a roller 53, rotatably mounted between the disks 41.

As in the preceding embodiment the peripheries of the cam disks 41 and the roller 53 are so arranged relatively to one another that the lever 5| is actuated prior to the lever 4 so that first the top of the bottle is pushed into the capping head and then the pressure is applied to the cap around the top of the bottle. In order to receive a sufficient working movement bythe roller 53 the lever is curved upwards as is shown in the drawings. The connection between the rod 50 and the tube i4 -may be adjusted by means of nuts 54.

When after the closing the handle is returned the levers 4 and 5| reassume their initial positions, the former by the actuation of one or more resilient members, such as the elastic ring 20 When expanding, the latter by means of the weight of the members hanging by the same.

By its simple construction this embodiment of the machine may be manufactured in a suitable size for mounting on a table or the like.

The machine described above may be modied in many parts without departing from the spirit of my invention. v

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a bottle capping machine, a liftable bottle support, a capping head, capping mechanism therein, means for adjusting the capping head relative to the support so as to adapt the machine for bottles of varying heights, a driving shaft, and a yieldable transmission from said shaft to said support and capping mechanism, said transmission comprising a lever for operating said capping mechanism, a reciprocatable member actuated by said shaft, a draw member between said lever and reciprocatable member, means actuated by the driving shaft for lifting and lowering said bottle support, a coupling device for connecting and disconnecting the transmission portions that control the capping operation, and means for adjusting the effective length of said draw member.

2. In a bottle capping machine, a frame, a liftable bottle support mounted in said frame, a capping head, capping mechanism therein, a block supporting said capping head and adjustably mounted on said frame so that the capping head may be adjusted relative to the bottle support so as to adapt the machine for bottles of varying heights, a driving shaft and a yieldable transmission from said shaft to said support and capping mechanism, said transmission including a lever mounted in said block and controlling the operation. of the capping mechanism, a member between said lever and drive shaft, and means for adjusting the effective length of said member to compensate for adjustments of said capping head.

3. In a bottle capping machine, a liftable bottle support, a capping head, capping mechanism therein, means for adjusting the capping head relative to the support so as to adapt the machine for bottles of varying heights, a driving shaft, and a yieldable transmission from said shaft to said support and capping mechanism, said transmission comprising a lever for' operating said capping mechanism, a reciprocatable member actuated by said shaft, a draw member between said lever and reciprocatable member, means actuated by the driving shaft for lifting and lowering said bottle support, a coupling `device for ccnnecting and disconnecting the transmission portions that control the capping Y operation, and

means for adjusting the eiective length of said draw member, said last-named means comprising a hand-wheel adjustably mounted on said draw member, and a yieldable connection between said hand-wheel and said lever.

4. In a bottle capping machine, a frame, a liftable bottle support mounted in said frame, a capping head, capping mechanism therein, a block supporting said capping head and adjustably mounted on said frame so that the capping head may be adjusted relative to the bottle support so as to adapt the machine for bottles of varying heights, manually operable means for accurately shifting the position of said block with respect to said frame, a driving shaft, a yieldable transmission from said shaft to said support and capping mechanism, said transmission including a vertical draw member, and means for adjusting the eiective length of said draw member to compensate for adjustments of said capping head.

5. In a bottle capping machine, a frame, a liftable bottle support mounted in said frame, a capping head, capping mechanism therein, a block supporting said capping head and adjustably mounted on said frame so that the capping head may be adjusted relative to the bottle support so as to adapt the machine for bottles of varying heights, a lever mounted in said block and controlling the operation of the capping mechanism, a control handle mounted in said block and cooperating with said lever to operate said capping mechanism, a second lever mounted in said block, a draw member from said second lever to said bottle support for lifting the latter, and cams carried by said control handle for actuating said levers.

6. In a bottle capping machine, a frame, a liftable bottle support mounted in said frame, a capping head, capping mechanism therein, a block supporting said capping head and adjustably mounted on said frame so that the capping head may be adjusted relative to the bottle support so as to adapt the machine for bottles oi varying heights, a lever mounted in said block and controlling the operation of the capping mechanism, a control handle mounted in said block and cooperating with said lever to operate said capping mechanism, a second lever mounted in said block, a draw member from said second lever to said bottle support for lifting the latter, cams carried by said control handle for actuating said levers, and means for adjusting the eiective length of said draw member.

7. In a bottle capping machine of the character described, the combination of a vertically bottle support to elevate the bottle, transmission means for operatingV the bottle support and plunger, comprising cam means timed to elevate the support in relation to the pressure movement of the plunger to insert the top of the bottle into the ring before compression takes place in the latter, said transmission means also including an element extending from below the bottle support to a point above the capping ring, and means t0 adjust the effective length of said element to accommodate an adjustment in the distance between the head and support.

8. In a bottle capping machine of the character described, the combination of a vertically adjustable capping head having an elastic capping ring to be compressed about a bottle top and a plunger to compress the capping ring, a bottle support to elevate the bottle, transmission means for operating the bottle support and plunger, comprising cam means timed to elevate the support in relation to the pressure movement of the plunger to insert the top of the bottle into the ring before compression takes place in the latter, said transmission means also including an element extending from below the bottle support to a point above the capping ring, yieldable elements arranged in the transmission means between the cam means and the support and the cam means and the plunger, and means to adjust the eiective length of said element to accommodate an adjustment in the distance between the head and support.

9. In a bottle capping machine of the character described, the combination of an adjustable capping head having an elastic capping ring to be compressed about a bottle top and a plunger to compress the capping ring, a bottle support to elevate the bottle, transmission means for operating the bottle support and plunger, comprising cam means timed to elevate the support in relation to the pressure movement of the plunger to insert the top of the bottle into the ring before compression takes place in the latter, said transmission means also including an element extending from below the bottle support to a point above the capping ring, means to adjust the effective length of said element to accommodate an adjustment in the distance between the head and support, and a yieldable element arranged in the transmission means between the cam means and. the support.

ANDERS JOSEF JONSSON. 

